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MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



then actually achieved : and hence, now the es- 

 tablishment in this great emporium of enter- 

 prise, of the Farmers" Library anp Month 

 LY Journal of Agriculture; which, though 

 it contains more than five times the quantity of 

 matter that the old American Farmer did, and is 

 published in a style incomparably superior, is 

 nevertheless, in keeping with other things, pub- 

 lished at the same price ; to wit, So a year, or 

 5 copies for $20. 



This is a work intended to explain the philo- 

 sophy and the rights of Agriculture, as well as 

 to illustrate all improvements in its practice and 

 its machinery — a work which, we make bold to 

 say, shall deserve to be supported by every friend 

 of the agricultural interest in the Union. Very 

 far from detracting from, or grudging success to, 

 cheaper journals, dedicated to the same interest, 

 unbounded success is heartily wished to them 

 all. In fact, they but create a laudable desire 

 for more and more of the knowledge they im 

 part, and prepare the public taste for works 

 more elaborate and expensive, just as common 

 schools are the indispensable nurseries of a uni- 

 versity. They but create and aggravate the 

 thirst which this work, with its hundred pages 

 monthly, is intended to slake. 



To all our cotemporaries and allies we cor- 

 dially extend the hand and the heart of fellow- 

 ship and good will, except one — yes, there is 

 one rival, whose meanness we detest, though 

 we dare not despise his power. Powerful as 

 the eagle — fit emblem of his own laziness and 

 rapacity — he has lain in wait, while we poor 

 individual Editors and Proprietors have opened 

 the ground and overcome all difficulties ; and 

 now that we have made a despised cause popu- 

 lar, and provided food for the hungry and the 

 destitute, he, in a spirit of envy and against ev- 

 ery principle of common justice and honesty, 

 filches us of our hard earnings, and, without stint 

 or scruple, appropriates our labors to himself 

 Yes, reader — tell it not in Gath ! publish it not in 

 the streets of Askelon ! — but that rival agricultu ral 

 Editor is no other than "Uscle Sam" him.self ! 

 There he sits picking him.self like a lazy bird 

 in his eyrj- — as Dr. Franklin said of the eagle — 

 while we poor Editors, on our own hook, catch 

 the fish ; when he darts upon us in the ruthless 

 exercise of his power, and snatches them — to be 

 distributed, not in equal portions, share and 

 share alike, to the whole family of birds, but ex- 

 clusively to his own pets. Beginning with a 

 legitimate and unpretending List of Patents 

 granted through the year, he now comes out 

 with a great Agricultural Annual, xxnAer the 

 title of "The Patent-Office Report" ! and 

 even that not fairly made up of original matter 

 and new discoveries, with engravings for the 

 benefit of inventors and the public, but a 

 compilation, tame and nnscrunnlou-s, from the 



agricultural periodicals of the day. Seizing, 

 in the plenitude of his power — since he can- 

 not be sued — on our materials, he prints them 

 on Government paper, at the Government 

 press, and at the expense, not of those to 

 whom he gives them, but of ingenious and, 

 for the most part, poor and useful inventors — 

 and sends them free by the Government mail. 

 It must, therefore, be admitted that this all-pow- 

 erful rival has great advantages over all other 

 Editors, whose materials he thus appropriates to 

 himself; but, then, it is not to be doubted that, if 

 he possess a particle of common honesty, he, like 

 any respectable builder, will make an equitable 

 appropriation for each of the individuals from 

 whom he gets his materials. 



Even in war, though the officer, dressed out 

 m his life authority, may press the farmer's, 

 wagon and team, the public would cry, Shame ! 

 if he had not the decency to oSer pay for them ! 

 Nor is it to be expected that Congress will fail 

 at least to put other agricultural periodicals on 

 something like a fair footing, by at least sending 

 them, too, 171 the public mail, free of pontage. 



Why should Uncle Sam direct this flagrant 

 and unconstitutional abu.se of his power against 

 the proprietors of agricultural popiers exclu- 

 sively ? Why does he not set up his nevi'spaper. 

 his religious paper, his medical repositor}-, and 

 his law reporters ? Why not set up the busi- 

 ness of type-founding, engraving, paper-making, 

 and all other arts, trades and manufactures ? — 

 Why, in a word, should not the subscribers to 

 the American Farmer, Southern Planter, 

 Southern Cultivator, Albany CiiUivator, 

 American Agriculturist, Ohio Cultivator, 

 New-England Farmer, Maine Farmer, Farm- 

 ers' Monthly Visiter, Boston Cultivator, Mas- 

 sachusetts Plowman, Am,eriean Quarterly Re- 

 view, N^ew Genesee Farmer, Farmers' Cabinet, 

 Lancaster County Farmer, North Carolina 

 Farmer, Southern Agriculturist, Alabama 

 Planter, Planters' Banner, Nashville Agricul- 

 turist, Dollar Farmer, Indiana Farmer, Prai- 

 rie Farmer, and the Michigan Farmer — why 

 have they not as much right to have their pa- 

 pers sent to them free of postage, at least, if not 

 subscription, as the chosen favorites (mostly rich 

 men or politicians of both parties), to whom this 

 Government Annual is sent, thus entirely free 

 of cost? — as much as to say to the community, 

 Don't give a sous to these fellows ; let them 

 work for nothing and find themselves, and Uncle 

 Sam, in the fullness of his power, and his own 

 latitude of construction, will lay by and seize 

 upon the fruits of their labor when they are 

 gathered in, all ripe, and, culling the choicest 

 from their baskets for you, will leave the refuse 

 for those who are fools enough topay for it ! 



After all, it may be demanded, whence is de- 

 rived the power to build up this new branch of 



